San Diego County, San Diego Rat Control Situation:
Hi David, Is a UV blacklight still useful, exterior-wise, if it rains after the rodents leave their urine stains? I am in the process of performing exterior maintenance to better exclude my roof rats. 1) I have a 25 year old cedar shake roof in San Diego California with openings under each shake along the rake edge of the roof at the gable ends of my house. There's no drip edge, i.e. under the shakes I have roofing paper (now somewhat curled) that runs more or less up to and rests right atop the fascia board. Because I have skip sheathing, and since the cross section of a shake is a wedge that is up to one inch at the upper, thick end, this appears to create many huge entry points along the rake edges even though the sheathing is rabbeted into the fascia board. As a result, I'm thinking of getting a UV blacklight to use outside the house to sleuth for urine stains along the upper edge of the gable end shakes and fascia boards. My question is, how easily does the winter rain wash away the urine, rendering this a pointless exercise? 2) I noticed a new product called "rat-out gel" and was thinking of applying it along the rake edges mentioned above. Or, maybe I should just buy many rolls of X-Clude and use that instead. Or maybe both. Any comment? Thanks very much for your website, Doug
My response: First off, I do not have experience using UV lights to detect rat urine. But I do suspect that rain will severely limit the effectiveness of this approach. I have never heard of Rat-Out Gel or XClude, but I typically stick to physical barriers rather than repellent type devices. If your roof makes this impossible, you might have a tough time keeping the rats out.
San Diego Rat Control Tip of The Week
Are Rats Able to Dream?
Talking about rats implies talking about pests. But let's not forget that these curious animals have been used in various scientific studies regarding sleep. In this post, we want to give you a brief description of what has been discovered about rats and sleep.
Do rats sleep?
If you ever have had the chance to see any of these little rodents, you should know that:- They are nocturnal animals
- They do not have the same sleep phases as humans
- They cannot see in color; they are colorblind
- These animals have many interesting characteristics, but the most interesting of them all is they incorporate the REM phase in their sleep
What is the REM cycle?
It is the phase of sleep in which our sleep becomes heavier. The brain waves that predominate behave the way they do when we are awake; this makes our heart rate and pressure increase, as well as the movement of our eyes (Rapid Eye Movement). There is no muscle tone and it is the moment we have dreams. Rats also experience the REM cycle.
So... do rats dream?
We could say yes; studies have shown that these medium-sized rodents incorporate this stage in their sleep phases. It's also important for you to know that their cycles are shorter and more widely spaced throughout the day.
That's why they will probably only see images, due to the absence of reasoning, they could not put together a story in their dreams.
Why they go out at night
It is difficult for a rat to cross your path during the day, and they have the need to go out and look for food. You will rarely see them wandering around during the day, as they tend to hide and sleep. But when night falls, they take advantage of the stillness and silence to seek supplies and prowl around.
